“The Labyrinth of Concrete” is a fictional story on the intricate subject of Stereotyping. It is set in the downtown Toronto area and winds its way through the picturesque parts of the city, through to the hustle and bustle of the commercial and business districts,unto foods that give the city its unique flavour, revealing characters that contribute to its diversification.

A fictional book on Stereotyping based in Toronto – now on Amazon Kindle

“The Labyrinth of Concrete” is a fictional story on the intricate subject of Stereotyping. It is set in the downtown Toronto area and winds its way through the picturesque parts of the city, through to the hustle and bustle of the commercial and business districts,unto foods that give the city its unique flavour, revealing characters that contribute to its diversification.

Click on the cover of the book to access the Amazon Kindle web site.

Like a breath of fresh air ©ronaldjanki.com

Amid the noise, traffic, construction, scaffolding, cranes, drills, jackhammers, high-rise buildings, industrial-complexes, schools, universities, colleges, shopping centres, big-homes, small-homes, medium-sized homes, restaurants, hospitals, the-toronto-stock-exchange, big-banks, medium-sized banks, small-banks, the-homeless, the-shelters, the-people-of-all-races-and-colors, lies a small green-house, beside a fenced dog park, that blossoms with the colour and beauty of eternal spring and summer.

Therein lies a breath of fresh air, a walk with distant memories in far off places: a glimpse of a beautiful sunrise once experienced, a stillness in the rhythm of the ocean, a bird soaring graciously with outstretched wings against a blue, cloudless sky, a trickle over a rocky surface that unites with the mysterious river below, branches dancing to the silent music of the universe, and bees alighting on flowers continuing the circle of nature.

Therein in this little green house lies many such things that the imagination can conjure.

 REFERENCE:

Allan Gardens Conservatory, City of Toronto

Pictures taken with Sony NEX 5R Digital SLR Camera. Gallery created in Adobe Bridge CS6

Thoughts on International Women’s Day

You may have considered about the significance of International Women’s Day and thought about elements such as Power, Greatness, Freedom, Differences, Oppression, Loneliness, Racism, Marginalization Fear, Struggle, and Silence.

You may have considered that the challenge is not to convince the existing Powers, but the real challenge is to change the very face and character of Power itself.

You may have considered that our differences is not the characteristic that segregates us, but on the contrary, it is the lack of acceptance and celebration of those very differences that carve the chasms of disunity.

You may have considered that the burdens we carry are not what really weakens, but it’s the way that they are carried that can make the difference between strength and failing.

You may have considered that the road that leads to exceptionality can also be the same road that leads to loneliness, and that the measurement of success is not really the accomplishment itself, but in actuality, it is the thorns along the road of struggle that were overcome to achieve the accomplishment.

You may have considered that the proverbial broom of anger can drive off the monster of terror and that the shadow of silence cannot really be a shield.

You may have considered that freedom really isn’t freedom if even one among us isn’t free.

And you may have considered reading a book that isn’t written as yet, and take it upon yourself to write it, and you may dream a dream that has never been dreamt before, and that very dream may have the power of accomplishing things that have never ever been seen before.

You may have considered many of these things today.

Winter in Riverdale Park, Toronto Feb 2013

Is your fate like a fruit tree in winter that is transformed into green and blossoms as the blizzards and snow evaporate and spring and summer appear?

Does winter feel like a frightening animal that has a vicious tail that lashes, and gnarled teeth that threaten to bite?

Or do you see winter in some peoples’ faces and then in an instant laughter transforms them into summer sunrises?

Have you ever experienced that just as winter makes the spring a celebration of nature in all its glory, adversities in life make success an adoration of victory?

Have you ever been mesmerized by the snowy landscape with vicious wind blowing in your face and on the inside your spirit feels the summer of determination?

And have you ever looked at a river that flows in the winter and consider that the flow and momentum prevent it’s solidification, and then reflect that in a similar sense true friendship cannot be transformed into the inflexibility of adversity?

And have you pondered during some thoughtful moments that nothing lasts for ever, not even the winter, and spring always comes along as expected?

Here is a short video of a winter celebration that occurs in Riverdale Park, Toronto.

   

What does winter mean to you?

Sources:

Music in the video is by the Adolescentes and the song is called “Me Gustas.” All rights reserved by the owner of the song.

Massages and exercises that enhance the functioning of the lymphatic and cardiovascular systems

It’s early January 2013 and Daniella and Rio are in the Centro de Estética y Especialistas located in one of the business areas of Bogota, Colombia. It’s the last day of a seven-day therapeutic program that includes myriad of massages and exercises that enhance the functioning of the lymphatic and cardiovascular systems of the body.

The radiant, tropical sunshine outside is filtering through the white curtains and illuminating the room with a warm, optimistic glow. Outside the hurried chirping of birds as they playfully rush in flight from here to there is momentarily heard, and then just as suddenly the flurry evaporates into the mid-morning brilliance. Enhancing the aesthetic environment are several pictures and paintings that deck the walls of the clinic accentuating the marvel of the human body.

In the room, Rio is lying facedown on a massage bed. Daniella on the other side of the room is also lying on a massage bed however is wrapped up in a thick electric blanket and covered in many additional layers of insulation. Like if in a cocoon, she is also enclosed in layers of plastic closely encircling her body. Glistening beads of perspiration are appearing on her face and forehead.

As the masseur expertly massages Rio with the hands as well as using machines and devices that rotate, vibrate and roll, his eyes follow a golden ray of light entering through a gap in the curtain and streaming towards the illuminated floor. The invigorating massages mingle with the golden rays, and similar to miracle of metamorphosis, his thoughts take wings and flutter away into a hazy land of surrealism:

Gold Museum of Bogota, Colombia – artifacts from pre-colonial times

 It’s the Gold Museum of Bogota, Colombia and an older man wearing a cream coloured blazer and a younger woman in long, fashionable leather boots are slowly walking along the corridor and carrying on a thoughtful conversation. They are peering intently into the glass display cases, looking at the gold artifacts.  

“It’s quite fascinating, Luis, that as early as 1550 BC the ancient inhabitants of South America were working with copper and gold. Apparently this ability extended all the way from central Mexico, towards Northern Chile and all the way to Argentina,” the young woman with the fashionable leather boots speaks without taking her eyes off a display of a golden band with small monkeys dancing on its perimeter.

 ”Yes Lorena. And each region had its own unique style. Colombian metallurgy at that time was primarily work with gold. This extended over a period of 2000 years and thousands and thousands of objects were made. Sadly many of those artifacts were destroyed by the European conquest, however it is of cultural and historical importance that some were preserved and now displayed in this Gold Museum in Bogota, Colombia,” comments Luis as he brushes a tiny speck of dust off his cream-coloured blazer.

 Lorena with her fashionable boots stops in front of one of the exhibits and is reading the information detail: “In summary it says —gold, copper and silver can be stretched out in sheets or threads because they are malleable and ductile. This is achieved through hammering the metal, however it has to be done with caution and experience as excessive hammering can cause unnatural distortion of the crystalline structure and make the metal hard — causing fractures.”

 ”If I may add, this transformation of gold, copper, silver and platinum by those metal smiths from long ago can be viewed philosophically as the creation of a greater transformation — the transformation of the spirit. It transcends beyond the physical and blossoms into mythology, mysticism, shamanism and symbolism and radiates with beauty,” Luis eloquently comments as he adjusts his blazer to a position of perfection and it hugs his body with flawless precision.

As nature paints the summer leaves in the hues of autumn, the golden artifacts of the museum are refashioned into golden beams of light penetrating through curtained windows, and Rio becomes aware of the masseur speaking to him asking him to readjust his position. Rio readjusts his position. The enchanting massages commence once again and his thoughts take wings and flutter away into a hazy land of surrealism:

Ancient times of Greek Mythology

It’s now a land with the colossal gold-floored Olympus prevailing over the landscape. Timeless gods are lifting golden beakers, pledging each other warmly as they gaze down on the legendary city of Troy. Speeding by below are chariots built of gold and silver and sceptres studded with golden nails. Armour comprising of blue enamel interspersed with bands of gold and beaten tin are decorated with dark blue serpents. Achilles’s silent wrath continues to fume in an unsettled reservation as immemorial warriors’ passion for war smoulder like an angry volcano.

Once again, as nature paints the summer leaves in the hues of autumn, classic Greek lands are transformed into a room of gleaming sun through curtained windows, and the gentle voice of the masseur is signalling to Rio that the therapy is completed.

“How was the massage?” Daniella is asking Rio after they got dressed and are preparing to leave the clinic.

“Oh! I drifted off into a deep sleep and dreamt about gold! First it was about the Bogota Gold Museum we went to a few days ago, and then strangely I then dreamt about some scenes from the book I am reading — the Iliad by Homer — and the scenes were all about gold!” Rio is describing as they walk towards the door to leave the clinic.

“Well that had to be one good massage — but it’s interesting that gold is a common theme to two different places so far removed, at possibly two different times in history,” Daniella says as she adjusts the pony tail of her hair.

“Quite fascinating. Homer in the Iliad was describing circumstances — fact or fiction — that could have been placed in the timeframe of at least one or two thousand years before the birth of Christ — but his description — and the weaving in the mythological stories of gold, bronze and silver demonstrates a very extensive knowledge and awareness of this subject,” Rio says emphatically as suddenly the conversation of the dream adds much more significance to it.

As they stop for a moment to say goodbye to the masseur, Rio looks around the room as if trying to memorize the explicit details of the clinic where they spent many hours rejuvenating the body, mind and soul. He looks thoughtfully at the masseur and reflects that this program was conducted under the guidance of one whose smile flourished with the same radiance as the golden rays that illuminated the experiences here, and revealed an inherent empathy, understanding, knowledge and awareness of our human existence.

A painting accentuates the marvel of the human body

Rio now fixes his stare on an beautiful painting of a nude human body on the wall of the clinic, “that’s quite a master piece.”

Daniella glances at him with a twinkle in her eyes, “actually I was meaning to tell you that I know the girl in the painting. In a way I have known her since I have known myself. And I also know the artist who painted that picture.”

“Fascinating! It seems like today is filled with transformation, mysteries, memories, illusions and fantasies.”

Outside they inhale the exhilarating, tropical air. Leaves of the palm trees wave gently in the wind and some chirping birds appear overhead flying in unison and then dashing off out of sight.

“It’s fascinating how reality, dreams, illusions and fantasies are so closely interrelated. Today I was drifting in out of what we call reality and  yet the dreamy phantasm seemed just as real. Amazing that we can be seemingly transported back thousands of years in the blink of an eye. ”

Daniella is smiling as she loosens the knot around her pony tail and releases her hair and it blows gracefully in the gentle breeze. “This experience and conversation reminds me of a saying I heard somewhere: Is all that we see or seem a dream within a dream?”

“Quite an awesome statement. Yes what really is time and reality when one speaks of notions that transcend our human processes and systems?”

An older man wearing a cream coloured blazer and a younger woman in long, fashionable leather boots are walking past them along the sidewalk. Rio stares at them as if recalling some distant consciousness.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ADDITIONAL READING:

The Gold Museum, Bogota, Colombia – Banco de la República

Centro de Estética y Especialistas – Calle 73 # 9-57 Bogota, Colombia

The Illiad by Homer

Edelberto Mora – Artist of nude body

Painting of picture based on the Iliad – Franz Matsch

   

Christmas in Tunja Colombia

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Tunja is the capital of the Departamento (Province or State) of Boyacá and is located in north-central Colombia and lies in the high valley of the Teatinos, or Boyacá, River. It is the coldest city in Colombia and with average temperature ranging from 10 to 13 degrees Celsius, however on exceptional days it can get close to zero degrees. It is adorned with many colonial buildings including churches from the sixteenth century.

The Departamento Boyacá in which Tunja is the capital, has the world-famous emerald mines.

Passing through rocky edges and massive trees

Rio and Daniella are on a visit to Colombia. Amando, one of their good Colombian friends has offered to take them on a tour of the mountain called Guadalupe. It's very early Sunday morning.

The small, blue bus they are sitting in is cutting through the steep winding roads, as it rocks from side to side, passing through precariously overhanging rocky edges supporting large trees with massive, protruding roots.

Through the window of the bus Rio sees a bird silently gliding through the cloudy skies, hovering at times with motionless wings while sustaining perfect balance as it keenly surveys the landscape below.

“—Bogota lies in a fertile upland basin about 2,640 meters above sea level. It's part of the Northern Andes Mountains,” Rio's focus on the bird is interrupted as he hears Amando speaking.

“So the mountain that we are climbing now is called Guadalupe?” Rio is asking as the bus makes a sharp turn and the bird disappears from sight and Rio tries to catch it again with his eyes.

“Yes, two mountains stand to the East of Bogotá…one is called Guadalupe and the other Monserrate.”

“Guadalupe, the higher of the two, is 3260 meters above sea level,” Daniella adds.

Cooler thinner air at higher altitude

They disembark from the bus when it reaches its destination. The cool, thinner air makes them momentarily gasp for breath and they exhale clouds of frosty breath. Daniella zips up her jacket and pulls the hood tightly over her head.

“We still have a bit of a walk ahead of us to reach the highest point.”

“Look there is a large white statue with outstretched hands,” Daniella is pointing upwards as the back of the grand statue comes into view,towering gracefully over ancient brick buildings with tiled roofs. They determinedly take long strides up the sharp incline as they pass multiple vendors with shaded stalls selling miniature versions of this paramount statue.

Lady of Guadalupe

“She is the Lady of Guadalupe. It's based on a strong belief by the Roman Catholic faith on an event that occurred in 1531…The Lady from Heaven appeared to a Native American at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City. Long and short of it …The image of the heavenly lady got imprinted on his tilma…the traditional cloak he was wearing,” Amando is almost out of breath as he explains the history.

“I was reading about it…apparently after all these years the cloak is still perfectly preserved and it has defied scientific investigation on the construction of the image…it doesn't seem to be something that could have been painted by human hand,” Daniella is adding, in between quick breaths, as they reach the highest part and are circling to the front of the Lady.

“José Aste Tonsmann…a engineer-scientist type of the Mexican Center of Guadalupan Studies…has magnified the eyes of the Lady on the original tilma thousands of times and has presented his findings before the Scientific community…imprinted on the Lady's eyes are a highly detailed picture of at least 13 people,” Amando continues as he gazes up at the statue that seems to perpetually embrace the city in the hazy distance way below it.

“Quite a mystery,” Rio comments as he looks upwards mesmerized by the Lady.

They are now standing in front of an ancient church.

“This mountain was named Guadalupe in 1538. The original chapel was built in 1656 although it was destroyed due to the strong Earthquakes,” They are reading the red letters inscribed on a rectangular,brick plaque attached to the chapel.

Foxgloves grace the decent

The trio walk down the sloped road back to the bus passing pines, evergreens, and foxgloves. The bus proceeds with greater momentum,propelled with the force of gravity,and it winds through thick greenery, and vertical rocky terrain. As the bus reaches the lower portions it transforms the view into roofless, broken buildings looking like if a Goliath had swept through the area with a huge, jagged force cutting through everything in its path.

Through crowded streets, red buses, tall concrete buildings,blue skies and ten thousand pigeons the trio arrive in Bogota's downtown area where emerald merchants are in abundance.

“Colombia produces about sixty percent of the worlds finest emeralds,” Amando is describing as they look through a glass case displaying a Lilliputian miner pushing a cart containing the precious emeralds embedded in calcite.

Lilliputian miner

A short, round man with a moustache,wearing an emerald studded pendant approaches them from inside the store and starts to speak as he points to the Lilliputian display, “Their origin is a geological mystery…emeralds in other parts of the world were formed from volcanic activity… however Colombian emeralds are the only ones in the world associated with sedimentary rock. This is what has given them their uniqueness and exceptional beauty.” The round man wanders over to some other customers who have just entered the store.

“Emeralds are among the oldest gemstones known to mankind,” Amando says informatively.

“The green stone has been long used as a symbol of life and rebirth and they are seven times rarer than diamonds,” adds Daniella.

Back where they are staying, after a long, exciting day filled with much mystery and adventure, Rio props up a huge green pillow on the bed, opens up his iPad and starts to type:

“Through the passage of time, the tectonic movements that created the Andes mountains also amalgamated beryllium, chromium and vanadium in a complexity of ways, and these mysterious universal forces and processes created magnificent gems of beauty called emeralds.

“Through the passage of time, and for the period of about eight centuries, the Arabs lived in the Iberian Peninsula, and through mysterious cultural forces and processes in a complexity of ways, many Spanish words were derived from their language. One of those words is Guadalupe – meaning ’river channel’ or ’that which leads the water.’ Through the passage of time, this name has adorned monasteries, mountains and immortal beings that have passed through our earthly existence—”

Miniature angels and twinkling birds

Rio closes his eyes and drifts off in a dream of sparkling green forests, small men pushing carts from shimmering mines carrying miniature angels with radiating eyes and outstretched hands, and a beautiful, twinkling bird with powerful wings gracefully soaring over brilliant mountain tops and disappearing into an emerald sky.

The iPad falls from his hands onto the floor with a gentle thud.

REFERENCE:

Wolf Kuehn's Gem Study Tour of the Muzo, Colombia Emerald Mine – August 2005

Science Sees What Mary Saw From Juan Diego’s Tilma

José Aste Tonsmann

Guadalupe Mountain, Spot of Sublime Beauty

The truth of the image

Bogota's tourist attractions

Emerald: The queen of the gems

Emerald gemstone information

   

A Glimpse of Old Bogota

REFERENCE:

Museo de Artes y Tradiciones

Observing the Wondrous Sphere

Like the grace of gazelles beside a cooling stream, The Master and Disciple are walking and observing the wondrous Sphere.

“On that distant Sphere there is a jewelled lake that is nestled like a glassy sapphire in the gentle hills,” the Master says as he points to the green and blue globe encompassed in a halo of white, “but on that Sphere beauty, happiness, and death are so closely linked together.”

“What do you mean my Master?”

“Come with me,” the Master takes his hand and leads the disciple across boundless depths of time, across the rivers of infinity and up the mountains of perpetuity, to the Sphere of paradox.

It's early morning on the Sphere.

It's Early Morning on the Sphere

Tangerine flashes of sunshine flit past waving green arms of the branches. Ephemeral forms seem to flicker like translucent apparitions enchanted with the attire of gem-encrusted gold, moving fantastically to some distant melody.

A man trudges by and the disciple looks at his vacant eyes and observes, “the radiance of his eyes have utterly gone out.”

“Yes my Disciple—Eyes are like doors into the deepest and most intimate sanctums of the soul—his eyes cannot perceive beauty and happiness.” The intense rays of the sun seem to now bathe the atmosphere in a ghastly and inappropriate splendour.

Live Size Television Screens Transmitting the News

They approach a large assembly of people, and in the unpretentious light that flows across the life-size television screens there is a long tumultuous shouting sound emanating ,like the voice of a thousand waters, as the people gaze upwards.

“That's the early morning news being transmitted to the people,” the Master is telling his Disciple.

The Disciple gazes upwards, blinks his eyes, as the person delivering the message seems to be transformed into a dragon of a scaly and prodigious demeanour with a fiery tongue: “Around the world there have been shocking footage of dead civilians and gutted buildings. We have all been riveted by images of parents and children running from shelling and rocket fire—.”

The Disciple continues to subconsciously hear as the fiery monster transfuses his unceasing radiation of gloom. He looks around and observes people gazing upwards at the hypnotizing screen with a vacant stare clothed in an attitude of the profoundest attention as if listening to some discordant sound.

A youth with a species of mad hilarity in his eyes pushes his way through the crowd and is speaking to two of his friends. The Disciple picks up part of the conversation as they pass close by, “—they are armed with enough conspiracy theories to make news out of anything—”

Another youth with hair of a wild gossamer texture responds, “—if you always go with the flow, eventually you end up going down the drain—.”

“—they go about stringing together these and other absurdities and it causes more disharmony and—,” the third youth is responding. His speech gets absorbed as the elevated dragon is trying to overpower a crescendo of music and he says: “ We'll be right back after this message.”

The din quickly diminishes as the Master again leads the Disciple through fathomless depths, unbounded heights and horizonless expanses. They reach a place with a splendid lake sparkling in all its magnificence.

A Different Place, A Different Time, A Long Time Ago

“This is a different place and a different time—long before the time we just experienced,” says the Master, “everything—people, creatures, nature —are linked through the collective unconscious. There is balance,inner harmony,honour and acknowledgment of the connectivity of the Universe.”

As the Master is speaking a group of people wearing long white cotton skirts with deep indigo waistbands are passing by. A clinking sound is heard from pendants that they are wearing.

“These people have a deep philosophy that links the movements of planets, constellations and the Milky Way. They have developed an original writing system and keep precise calendars based on advanced knowledge of astronomy — -but come my Disciple our journey here on the Sphere is almost over.”

“This Sphere is a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful place,” says the Disciple as they journey back through the boundless depths of time, across the rivers of infinity and up the mountains of perpetuity.

“My Disciple, observe how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grow in silence — see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… silence is needed to understand the depths of the soul and to unravel mystery of the Universe. It's not in the confusion, frenzy, uproar and hysteria that this consciousness is achieved.”

“In a way it's like if the Sphere has progressed to the age of darkness,” the Disciple responds.

The Master nods his head – a slow determined nod that ripples with profound understanding. “Yes—that's the contradiction —that's the paradox —that darkness and progress can be seamlessly intertwined —that's the parable.”

An Image Appears as Glorious as the Sunrise

Master and Disciple look back at the Sphere and see it like a gem of blue and white resonating in the rhythm of the cosmos. And as they continue to be mesmerized by this glamour, there evolves from within the sphere an image as glorious as the sunrise – a reddish incandescent,spherical mass, rapidly growing in size, ascending and engulfing its surroundings, then developing into a massive white cloud that devours everything below it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ADDITIONAL READING:

The Fall of the House of Usher

Dreaming the Maya Fifth Sun

Nuclear Explosions

Progressing to the Age of Darkness

Rebalancing the Ecosystem

Giant Bomb Image

Myan Art

Dundas Square Toronto

View of Earth from Space